Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 29:11
No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.
11. No foot of man ] See Eze 32:13, cf. Eze 33:28, Eze 35:7; Jer 2:6. The desolation of Egypt shall continue forty years, the period of Chaldean supremacy (cf. Eze 4:6).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
No foot of man; not strictly to be taken, but in an accommodated sense, or comparatively to what once was, or so little traffic and passing to and fro, that no footsteps or tracks of men were found. It is a Scripture hyperbole, as Luk 19:44; Isa 14:31; Eze 26:14,21.
Nor foot of beast; of profitable, useful, and tractable, as sheep, oxen, and horses; but of wild beasts too many are in the desolate places of that part of the world.
Neither shall it be inhabited forty years: accounting these years from the first wastings of Egypt by their civil dissensions and wars, some nine or ten years before Nebuchadnezzar subdued and wasted it, which he did in the thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, and thirty-seventh years of his reign, or thereabout. So that these forty years will fall in about the thirtieth year of Jeconiahs captivity, and end with the seventieth year of the captivity, which was the first of Cyrus.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. forty yearsanswering tothe forty years in which the Israelites, their former bondsmen,wandered in “the wilderness” (compare Note, see onEze 29:5). JEROMEremarks the number forty is one often connected withaffliction and judgment. The rains of the flood in forty days broughtdestruction on the world. Moses, Elias, and the Saviour fasted fortydays. The interval between Egypt’s overthrow by Nebuchadnezzar andthe deliverance by Cyrus, was about forty years. The idealforty years’ wilderness state of social and political degradation,rather than a literal non-passing of man or beast for thatterm, is mainly intended (so Eze 4:6;Isa 19:2; Isa 19:11).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
No foot of man shall pass through it,…. This must be understood not strictly, but with some limitation; it cannot be thought that Egypt was so depopulated as that there should not be a single passenger in it; but that there should be few inhabitants in it, or that there should be scarce any that should come into it for traffic; it should not be frequented as it had been at least there should be very few that travelled in it, in comparison of what had:
no foot of beast shall pass through it: no droves of sheep and oxen, and such like useful cattle, only beasts of prey should dwell in it:
neither shall it be inhabited forty years: afterwards, Eze 29:17, a prophecy is given out concerning the destruction of it by Nebuchadnezzar, which was in the twenty seventh year, that is, of Jeconiah’s captivity; now allowing three years for the fulfilment of that prophecy, or forty years, a round number put for forty three years, they will end about the time that Cyrus conquered Babylon, at which time the seventy years’ captivity of the Jews ended; and very likely the captivity of the Egyptians also. The Jews pretend to give a reason why Egypt lay waste just forty years, because the famine, signified in Pharaoh’s dream, was to have lasted, as they make it out, forty two years; whereas, according to them, it continued only two years; and, instead of the other forty years of famine, Egypt must be forty years uninhabited: this is mentioned both by Jarchi and Kimchi.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(11) Neither shall it be inhabited forty years.In Eze. 29:9-12 a state of desolation is predicted for Egypt, which, if understood in the literal sense of the words, has certainly never been fulfilled. In Eze. 29:9 it is said that it shall be desolate and waste, and this is repeated with emphasis in Eze. 29:10; while in Eze. 29:11 it is declared that neither foot of man nor foot of beast shall pass through it. There is also a difficulty in regard to the time of forty years, mentioned in Eze. 29:11-13. No such definite period can be made out from history. The two difficulties go together, and the former is explained by the latter. It has already been seen in Eze. 4:6 that the prophet represents the calamity of Judah in the historic terms of their former suffering in the wilderness, without thereby intending either any specific time or any precise repetition of the same troubles they had then experienced. He does the same thing here in regard to Egypt. The people are to pass into a condition like that of the Israelites in the wilderness, in which they were to endure the judgment of God upon their sins. This is expressed, after the manner of Ezekiel, in strong concrete terms, the literal fulfilment of which was neither intended nor expected.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Neither shall it be inhabited forty years This prophecy was never literally fulfilled. It is a poetic description of the results of a campaign which laid waste the country and interrupted the traffic. (Compare Eze 4:6; Eze 32:13.) The forty years is a symbolic number. (See introduction to chapter 40, and general Introduction, VIII.) No one doubts that Egypt was in trouble at this very time. The brave General Nes-Hor tells us on his funeral statue how the “Aamu [Asiatics] and all the wretched Northerners from the land of Sati [Mesopotamia] wasted and plundered” the country as far as Nubia, ravaging the temple at Elephantine, etc. The fact that Nes-Hor claims to have driven back the invaders before they plundered Nubia proves that they had at least reached Syene. (See note Eze 29:10.) It is more probable that the Aamu, being satisfied with their booty, or being overcome with the heat, returned of their own accord. The Egyptians claimed victories under such circumstances (Wiedemann, Zeits. fur Aeg. Sprach, 1878; Maspero and Brugsch, Zeits., 1884; Expositor, x; Tiele, Geschichte; Kuenen, Onderzoek).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Eze 29:11. Forty years After the total defeat of Apries by the Cyreneans, in which so many Egyptians fell that the whole nation was enraged against their king, a civil war with Amasis followed, a conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, and another conquest of it by Cyrus. We learn from this passage during what period of years Egypt was desolated, and in a manner deserted.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 29:11 No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.
Ver. 11. No foot of man or beast shall pass through it. ] This was solitudo solitudinis indeed, a dreadful desolation. When it happened no history mentioneth, but that it was so is most sure. Oh the dismal effects of sin in all ages, as now in various parts of Turkey, utterly unpeopled, though once flourishing!
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
foot of man: Eze 30:10-13, Eze 31:12, Eze 32:13, Eze 33:28, Eze 36:28, Jer 43:11, Jer 43:12
forty: 2Ch 36:21, Isa 23:15, Isa 23:17, Jer 25:11, Jer 25:12, Jer 29:10, Dan 9:2
Reciprocal: Isa 34:10 – from Jer 9:10 – so Jer 51:43 – a land Eze 29:10 – I will Eze 35:7 – passeth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 29:11. The specified period of time referred to in the preceding verse is named in this one, and the prediction is that the desolation will last forty years.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Egypt would not be inhabited for 40 years, and other desolated lands would surround her. Her cities would lie waste, and her people would disperse among other nations and live in other countries. Egypt’s fate was like a repetition of Israel’s in the wilderness (cf. 4:6). Egypt did indeed fall to the Babylonians in 568-567 B.C.